The Waterfront Rumare
by Raphael Slypaw
Summary: Following a mysterious death in the Imperial City, Raido flees to southern Bravil to escape his "involvement." But when everything in his life points him back to the Waterfront, can he continue to elude his destiny? /M rating to come later/
1. An Arrest

"Stop! You've violated the law!"

Raido did not need to raise his head from the piece of wood he was busy whittling to know that the two guards trampling past him were chasing his friend and neighbor, Jair, who ran from the guards with a simple silver ring clutched in his fingers.

"Raido!"

Jair hissed the Imperial's name under his breath, tossing the ring into Raido's lap as he ran past. The guards did not notice this transaction, and continued to chase Jair past the tree under which Raido sat, finally tackling him at the shore of Lake Rumare, where it met with the sands of the Waterfront District of the Imperial City. As they raised Jair to his knees, hog-tying his wrists together with some rope, Raido shoved the ring into the pocket of his canvas breeches.

"I can't believe the idiot actually stole it," another voice announced.

Raido sheltered his eyes from the glare of the afternoon sun and looked up to see a body standing over him. Kastav Kvinchal was a twelve-year-old Imperial with fair brown hair that he wore pulled back in a low ponytail, and he was one of Raido's dearest friends in the entire Imperial City. For Raido, there was no world past its stone walls and the waters of Lake Rumare.

"It's your damned older brother's fault," Raido told him, setting aside his dagger and the half-finished horse he was whittling. "If he hadn't challenged Jair…you know how he has the Redguard pride running through his blood."

"It's Jair's fault, too," Kastav retorted, sliding down along the tree's bark to sit. "If he wasn't stupid enough to announce to the entire Waterfront that he was in love with my sister, Vlanarus wouldn't get so protective. Gods, I can't see what he sees in Bronsila anyway."

"Not that it matters." Raido sighed, standing. He pocketed the wood and sheathed his dagger, then followed the guards at a distance as they began to drag Jair up the small hill towards the docks. The docks were relatively empty; the morning ships had all left port and the Trade Company's employees were most likely taking a break to scarf down a chunk of bread and a bottle of beer. It was not difficult to follow the guards through the empty docks, across the stone bridge, up the sloping hill to the Temple District, through the Temple District, down a few walkways near the Palace, and to the Market District. It was as the guards shoved Jair past the First Edition bookstore and towards the bridge to the Prison that Raido heard a passerby hiss,

"Vile Waterfront scum. Hope he rots."

Raido scowled, half tempted to shove himself forcefully into the man and treat himself to a few of the septims the offender no doubt had jingling in his pocket. He did not, opting instead to hang a sharp right and disappear into the shadows as he watched the Guards heave open the heavy reinforced doors that led outside the walls of the Imperial City and across a bridge to the Imperial City Prison. As the gates began to swing shut, Raido jumped forward, barely making it through before they shut themselves with a foreboding clanking sound. Immediately, he dove to the left and hid in the blind spot near the edge of the bridge, in case the guards heard him. Jair, however, distracted them with his protests, and they did not hear Raido.

The Imperial adolescent hung around near the edge for a good twenty minutes, giving the guards ample time to cross the bridge and begin processing Jair. Raido crossed the bridge, making sure to crouch low and keep to the side where a miniature wall had been built to prevent anyone from toppling over. In less than a minute he was on the other side of the bridge, hopping over the ledge and onto the hillside. The prison was built on this hill, and some of the cell windows peeked out at ground level. Raido could only hope that Jair would be placed in one of the ground-level cells.

Another ten minutes later, Raido heard the distinct owl call that he knew came from his best friend, and followed it to a window that was luckily placed at the level of the highest blades of grass. Raido crouched in the grass and peered through between the bars, managing to make out Jair's awkward and gangly form in the darkness of the cell.

"Hail, Raido," Jair said, mocking the tone of the Imperial guards.

"Hello, Jair," he replied, settling himself down amongst the greenery. "How long are you in for?"

The young Redguard shrugged his skinny shoulders, and from beneath his scraggly jerkin Raido could see his ribs protruding.

"Five days, prob'ly. The usual, yeah? But they migh' lemme off early if I give 'em an accomplice's name. I'll jus' say Vlanarus. Half his fault I'm in the sit'uation, migh' 's well pay for it."

"That's unfair," Raido pointed out. He dug in the pocket of his breeches, and produced the silver ring. "It was your choice to chase this damn thing, and no one else's. Here," he tossed the ring at Jair, and it landed on the floor of the cell. "I can't keep holding on to it. They might see it and I'll get blamed."

Jair scrambled after the ring, cornering it against the distressed mattress in the cell. He threw the ring back at Raido, and it bounced in the grass.

"No, please. Take it t' Bronsila and tell 'er 'bout my arrest." His dark eyes sparkled feverishly. "She'll think it damn romantic."

Raido scowled at Jair, but knew that he could not refuse his best friend such a wish. He grabbed the ring and pushed it back into his pocket, then heaved himself up to his feet, turning to walk away, Jair's voice calling after him,

"Oh, and don't forget to tell my mother where I am!"


	2. A Great Potential

Raido did not see Bronsila until two days after Jair's arrest.

He had looked for her immediately after making sure that Jair was safe. When he visited her family's shack, her mother answered the door and informed him that Bronsila was just outside the city gates in the small farming hamlet of Weye. The innkeeper there had hired her for one day and one night to clean the private rooms and the pub downstairs. As he stood in the dirt patches in front of the shack, she was busy earning her family three septims, scrubbing away at wooden floors and beating out moth-eaten comforters.

"She'll be home to-morrow, Raido," spoke her mother.

The day after the Redguard's arrest was a Turdas, and the Khajiit brothers that ran the Black Horse Courier had offered Raido a job as their paperboy on this day every week. Raido was up before dawn that morning; at five o'clock he was assisting Hassiri with bundling the papers, at seven Ra'jiradh needed help stacking the piles, and by eight o'clock he was standing in the Market District on Urjabhi's orders yelling out to the crowds to read about the alleged skooma ring in Bravil. The brothers dismissed him from duty at seven o'clock and paid him his usual septim, and by the time that Raido made it back to the Waterfront District, he could barely drag himself inside his family's hut before he collapsed in unconsciousness.

He finally saw her the following day; it was nearing ten o'clock in the morning, and Raido was spending his time dangling his feet over the edge of the Waterfront District docks. His toes gently grazed the azure water of the port, his hands holding a fishing rod steady; it was a large stick with rope from his shoes tied around it as a line.

"Hello, Raido," spoke a gentle, feminine voice.

Raido craned his neck around his shoulder to look for the source, and, brushing his charcoal hair from his eyes, found Bronsila Kvinchal smiling down at him. Her eyes sparkled and distracted him from the abrupt shortness of her hair—she had worn it in a cropped fashion ever since her father's death. It hadn't come as a surprise to anyone who lived in the Waterfront shacks; most of the children there were raised without a father.

"Hello, Bronsila." Raido moved over on the dock to make room for the Imperial girl, and she inclined her head in a thank-you before stooping down to take a seat next to him.

They lapsed into silence as Bronsila took the time to remove her cowhide shoes and set them on the edge of the dock. They both dangled their toes in the water, and Bronsila began to make patterns with hers. They stayed quiet for a few minutes, Raido occasionally tugging on his improvised fishing rod and blowing his windbraids from his green eyes, before Bronsila spoke.

"I heard Jair was jailed."

"He was," Raido confirmed, not looking at her. "It was only half his fault, though."

Bronsila nodded.

"I know. When I came home the next day Vlanarus couldn't stop telling me how thankful I should be that he protected me from such a lowlife. He told me all about coercing Jair into stealing that ring from the jewelry shop."

Raido dug around in the pocket of his breeches and withdrew the ring, carefully placing it in Bronsila's palm.

"He really thought you'd want it. I snuck over to the Prison and found his cell—I talked to him through the outside window bars. He told me to give it to you and tell you about his arrest. He thought you'd find it…erm…"

"Romantic?" Bronsila finished. "A bit, yes. He went through all the trouble of scouting the place and got up the courage to try just for my sake. But I don't want a man who will end up as a petty thief like every other Waterfront male." She placed the ring back in Raido's hand, closing his fingers around it. He turned to her and she smiled at him, dragging her toes out of the water and wiping them on the hem of her long skirt. She put her shoes on one at a time and only then turned to Raido to complete her thought.

"I want a man who is willing to accept what he has done and admit to it. If Jair can give the ring back and admit his thievery, then…"

"Then…?" Raido prompted.

Bronsila blushed, looking away from Raido and instead at the ships docked at the port.

"Then I shall love him forever."

Raido allowed a faint smile to cross his lips, then turned his eyes back to the water.

He wondered vaguely if this was it for his best friend. He wondered if Jair would come out of prison, return the ring, and come home to the Waterfront to find Bronsila standing in front of her shack with open arms. He wondered if Bronsila would begin to come along on the romps he, Jair, and Kastav had along the shoreline of the island, and if Jair and Bronsila would hold hands the entire time. He wondered if someday they would share a first kiss and a first grope and eventually another first of something more. Raido imagined the wedding—Bronsila would grow her hair out and wear it in the court fashion for the grand occasion, and Jair would finally fill out his lanky and scrawny form over the years, finally tall and muscularly build. The two of them would be married in the Chapel of the One like proper citizens of the Imperial City, and Raido would stand within the chapel and smile stupidly throughout the whole thing. He wondered if one day he would wake up to find that they were all adults still living on the Waterfront (except that he and Kastav would spiral either into meaningless peasantry or thievery, while Jair led a straight-laced life centered around Bronsila and any children that they would have). He paused to imagine the offspring that came from a Redguard-Imperial pairing, and decided that the children would be handsome enough. They would, without a doubt, make his friend inconceivably happy, and he hoped that he would be able to see it all unfold.

Beyond that, he wanted to take an active part in his friend's happiness, and help him by bringing it just a bit closer to reality. Subconsciously determined, Raido's fingers tightened about the ring, and he pulled the fishing rod from the water with a sense of finality.

"Fear not, Bronsila; I myself shall make sure that he returns the ring."


	3. A Death

An hour after Bronsila departed from the docks, Raido found himself standing outside of Red Diamond Jewelry. His gaze cascaded over the worn wooden sign, eyes studying each painted letter carefully. When he swallowed, the back of his throat was thick with nervousness.

It had not occurred to the young Imperial until that moment that there was a chance of the entire theft being blamed on him. He could see the owner reporting him to the guards in his mind's eye; he stood in the middle of the shop with his head hung in shame and despair, an Imperial guard's heavy gauntlet hand on his shoulder as the owner ranted and raved that they had the wrong Waterfront citizen in jail because there he was, two days after the arrest, and he had the ring. Now, with this thought fresh in his mind, Raido did not know if he could carry out Bronsila's wishes.

As he hesitated in front of the shop, he tried to talk himself out of returning the ring. Raido told himself that it was dishonest to do what Bronsila wished Jair to do; he should just put the ring back in his pocket and walk away and wait patiently for the next five days. Then Jair would be released and he would wander home to the Waterfront and he could do it himself. Raido sighed and ran a hand through his hair, thinking of the other possibility; he could return the ring to the owner, and when Jair came home Raido could announce that the ring was reported back and safe, and Bronsila could greet the Redguard with her arms around his neck and a surprised smile on the boy's face. Raido smiled thoughtfully. He knew what he had to do.

Mustering up his courage, he pulled the wooden door to the jewelry store open and stepped in. He squinted for a moment, his eyes adjusting from the bright intensity of the noon soon to the dimly lit interior. After a few seconds, he could make out the immediate display cases on either side of him, the stairs leading up to the private chambers above the shop, and a counter in the far-right corner. Behind the counter sat the owner of the store, an elderly Dunmer woman, who studied him with a reproachful look on her lips.

"Listen," she called to him from the corner, "I was already robbed this week. I appreciate that you have no control over what circumstances your parents birthed you into, and I understand that desperate times may call for desperate measures, but I need to make a living too. I lost a big potential profit, so, please. Either stop your burglary ways, or go to another store. I cannot lose anymore."

Raido stopped in the middle of his approach, and flushed bright red. His hand instinctively went to rub the back of his neck, and he looked down at his dirty toes, clearly visible through the sackcloth sandals he wore on his feet.

"Madam, I'm not here to rob you today…"

The Dunmer woman lost all expression from her face, and stared at him blankly.

"I don't mean to offend, young one, but I highly doubt that you can afford to buy anything from this store without sacrificing one or more of your family to starvation or homelessness."

Raido swallowed uncertainly, his eyes briefly glancing up to meet the Dark Elf's eyes. As soon as the gazes connected, he dropped his sight to one of the display cases, studying the reflection of the stone walls on the painstakingly polished glass.

"I…I have something that belongs to you. A friend of mine took it, and he was wrong to do so. He sends his apologies."

A few moments that seemed to drag on to Oblivion passed, and then the tense atmosphere softened. Even from across the shop Raido could hear a smile form on the woman's lips, and he felt his stiffened shoulders relax. She called out to him,

"Alright, dear. I understand. You can come in."

Hesitant and still nervous, Raido took cautious steps towards the counter. He arrived much sooner than he had hoped, and he looked up at the woman. Her ashen skin was folded around her mouth and crinkled around her dark eyes as she smiled down at him. Her startlingly silver hair was pulled back in a high bun, and her wrinkled hands were splayed over a piece of parchment upon which the store's inventory was listed. There was a large circle around one of the items, and Raido was willing to bet the clothes off his back that the item was none other than the ring he carried in his pocket.

"I shan't call the guards, boy. You can give it back without any trouble to you or your…friend." She winked at him.

Deciding that it would be useless to argue and point out that it really was a friend who stole the ring and not he, Raido pulled the silver ring from his pocket and placed it carefully upon the counter. The woman reached for it and held it up to the dim light that came in through the fogged windows, squinting in her appraisal of the item. Satisfied, she set it down on the counter, and turned back to Raido.

"It is a very special ring, you know. The markings along the side of the ring are old Ayelid runes. The wearer of the ring can chant what is written on the side and heal himself of bodily harm. But, alas, there is a catch…"

The woman held the ring carefully in one hand, and scratched at it with the nail of her other index finger. She showed the ring to Raido, who gasped. The silver was paint, and underneath, the ring was bronze. The woman smiled.

"Yes, it is a trick. The ring was not for sale, you see, but I had to keep it in the store for the time being. I couldn't afford to keep a bronze ring in my store; it would make the entire place seem less appealing. But this ring I am sending to my nephew, Fargoth, in Morrowind. His mother, my sister, married a High Elf, and I didn't approve too much. All these years later, I feel remorse, and I want to send him something so that he knows his aunt is aware of his existence…"

She sniffed soundly and wiped a tear from her face. An awkward moment passed, during which Raido simply stared at the ring. Another moment later, the Dunmer woman was clutching furiously at her chest, her breathing harsh and quick.

"Oh, by the Nine Divine, my heart! Quick, boy, help me!"

Raido looked up, fear in his eyes and his heart jumping into his throat. The woman behind the counter had collapsed into a chair that was hidden from his view, and her hand gestured wildly at the windowsill.

"The green bottle! Quick!"

Raido dashed to the windowsill and grabbed an unlabeled green bottle from the mass of bottled potions that rested there. He hastily pulled the cork stopper off and dropped it to the ground before running back to the woman, whose breathing was becoming increasingly shallow.

"Easy, madam!"

He tipped her head back cautiously and put the bottle to her lips. As the potion poured into her mouth, he caught its foul odor of rotten fish and mushrooms. When the bottle was empty, he stepped back from the woman, the bottle still in hand as he pressed himself into the corner of the shop. In front of him, the woman still sputtered, the medicine having no effect. She threw her hand forward and called out with a hoarse voice,

"Help…."

Immediately after, her head rolled to one side and her hand fell. She was dead.

Raido stared at the scene before him, his heart beating frantically and his breath coming quick. As he stared at the woman, the door burst open and an Imperial guard stepped in, asking,

"What in Akatosh's name is going on in here?"

Raido connected everything that the guard saw faster than the Imperial man. There he was, a Waterfront boy similar to the one who had just been arrested for stealing from the shop, pressed into the dark corner with an unlabeled potion bottle in his hand. In front of him was a dead elderly Dunmer woman with one hand at her chest and the other limp at her side. By all appearances of the situation, he had poisoned her.

Before the guard could react, Raido bolted from the corner of the store and ran out to the side of the guard. He ran as fast as he could away from the store, knowing that if the guards caught him, they would never believe the story of a Waterfront ragamuffin. Barely three seconds had passed, and Raido was only running past the crates in front of the store when a harsh voice called out,

"Arrest that boy! He is a murderer!"

Raido clenched his eyes shut, and ran for his life.


	4. A Way Out

A/N: A special thanks to Nereverar, who is my only review so far. Thank you so much (:

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When he first ran, Raido was unsure of where to go. Guards were posted at each entrance to another district, which left him few choices. There was, however, a large crowd up ahead, peering appraisingly into the window of the Three Brothers' Trade Goods, which had just gotten a new shipment in from the docks. He ran straight for the cluster of people, and within a few moments he had run straight into them. His scrawny elbows and shoulders collided with angles of bones and the softness of skin as the crowd exclaimed,

"Watch it!"

"Oi!"

"Rotten kid!"

As he collided with the mass of people, Raido grabbed a dark colored shawl off a Bosmer woman's shoulders, quickly securing it around his head and face before continuing out of the crowd, slowing his sprint to a painfully slow walk. As he managed his way out of the crowd, he head the guard behind him collide with the cluster of people, all of whom yelled again in frustration and pain. Raido quickly kicked off his sack cloth sandals, then wandered a bit further down the street until he reached a large barrel. There he finally sat down, his back pressed against a rotting crate, dirtying his toes as much as he could.

It took much longer for the guard to make it through the crowd than it did Raido; no doubt his armor made it much more difficult for him to manipulate his way through the cluster. Within a few minutes, however, he was out, peering about suspiciously for Raido. The guard cursed under his breath, thinking that he had lost sight of the murderer, then strode down the street. Raido swallowed nervously; the guard was heading straight for him.

"You, there," the guard called out.

Raido kept his eyes on the cobblestones of the streets, and hoped his feet were dirty enough to appear wrinkled; he knew his hands were.

"Have you seen a boy running? An Imperial, Waterfront sort. Dark hair, tied in windbraids. Around his twelfth year."

Raido raised his head slowly, narrowing his eyes until they were slits, and stretched out a hand towards the guard.

"Please, sir," he croaked. "Have pity on an old war veteran…"

The guard snorted in disgust, muttering something about the homeless dirtying the streets, and stalked off from Raido. The boy breathed out a sigh of relief, then allowed his head to fall back against the crate. His heart finally slowed down, the adrenaline leaving his body, and his eyes fluttered shut.

—x—

When Raido's eyes opened again, the sun was not visible behind the Imperial City walls, and the moons were beginning to become visible in the orange- and purple-streaked sky. His neck was stiff, and when he stretched out to work out the kinks in his joints, something clinked at his feet. He opened his eyes and peered down, astonished to find that someone had left him five septims. His family barely managed that in a week.

"Up ye get there, love. Time for us t' clear out."

Raido looked up to find an old Imperial man smiling down at him. The man's hair was gray and thinning, and his feet were bare. He wore sack cloth pants and shirt, and he looked as if the Imperial City had beaten him more than once. Nevertheless, he outstretched his hand kindly to Raido, who took the stranger's had. He was pulled soundly to his feet.

"Mus' be new t' beggin' 'round 'ere. Guards don' 'ppreciate us sleepin' in the District as well."

The man wrapped his arm around Raido's shoulders, waiting patiently for the younger Imperial to stoop down and shove the septims into his pocket before leading him out of the Market District and towards the City Arena. Raido's mind was in a fog, and he concentrated on keeping the shawl wrapped securely around his face as he let the old man lead him through the Arboretum and to the Temple District, then down to the Waterfront. Vaguely he wondered how the man knew where he lived, but when they crossed the walkway to the docks he realized that he was not being lead home; he was being lead to the Bloated Float Inn. The man paused outside the doors, and looked at Raido, who looked at the ground for fear of somehow being recognized.

"'Lright there, love. Let's ye 'and over two septims, and we'll buy ye an ale t' sor' this all out."

Feeling as if he had no choice in the matter, Raido dejectedly reached into his pocket and handed the man two gold pieces. Raido stood awkwardly on the docks while the man disappeared inside the Inn, and his heart willed him to wander up the stone steps to the little hill upon which the Waterfront shacks were built. He wanted nothing more to come home to his mother and younger sister, to sit with them at the dinner table and eat stale hunks of bread and listen to his mother's stories and curl up in his burlap sleeping sack in the corner near the dying embers in the makeshift fireplace. It was then, as he was drifting off to sleep, that he would hear his mother promise his sister that they would buy her a real book for her next birthday, and then a sweet lullaby would flow through the shack, urging the children to sleep…

Raido swallowed thickly, his eyes burning with tears that he fought back. He knew that he couldn't come back home. The guards would surely come to his shack, and they would check back frequently. Now that he was a murderer, his bounty was substantial enough that the guards would hunt him all throughout the Imperial City, and possibly expand their search to Bruma, or Cheydinhal, or even Chorrol. As Raido thought more, he knew that he would have to flee to the south—Bravil and Leyawiin were notorious for being a safe haven for the lowlife thieves and criminals that had to flee the northern areas of Cyrodiil. Perhaps even a twelve-year-old murderer would be safe there.

Knowing that spending time with this man could later lead to identification, Raido cut his losses of two septims and ran from the doors of the Inn towards the end of the docks. From there, he dove off the edge and into Lake Rumare, pushing the shawl from his face so that it rested around his neck.

The water was cold and somewhat slimy against his skin, as if it were saturated with seaweed. Pushing the uncomfortable feeling aside, Raido hurriedly paddled towards the opposite side of the Niben River, turning south as he went. He didn't look back at his home.


End file.
